Kathleen looked at Maura as she spoke, leaning forward so that she could lower her voice. Even with just the two of them in the room, Kathleen still felt the need to whisper.
‘Kitty’s pregnancy will lay bare Father James’s hypocrisy, Maura. It will reveal the truth, that our priest was an impostor, a despicable human being, not a man of God. But who will listen, Maura? Imagine if it weren’t Kitty, but Mrs Keating’s daughter. What would happen? Who would ye and Tommy have thought was to blame? Your precious Father James? Or the Keating girl? Would anyone talk to the Keatings again? And what would the Church do and the nuns? Would they support her, or do ye think the Keating girl would be labelled a liar and a whore overnight? Would the Keatings even stand by her or would they throw her out? And by God, Maura, here’s the worst of it. When Kitty’s belly starts to show weeks after the priest was murdered, Kitty becomes a liability. She becomes a motive. Do ye understand me? Kitty’s belly will point the finger at you and Tommy. Do you see what that means?’
Maura hadn’t said a word. She sat at the table looking at her hands, then began to sob.
‘My poor Kitty, she doesn’t stand a chance, does she? What in God’s name can we do?’
Available now
About this Book
It is Christmas morning in 1964. For nurse Fionnuala Kennedy, it is work as usual. As she trudges through the cold streets to catch her bus, Fionnuala thinks of the secret which she has been keeping from her beloved mother and father – and of how on earth she is going to break it to them.
She promises herself that she will do it that very evening, when she gets back home. None of the hospital staff are expecting very much to disturb their routine _ it is Christmas Day, after all. And indeed, Fionnuala’s morning at the hospital begins quietly enough, but then all hell breaks loose, and she is faced with an emergency to rock her world to its foundations.
Reviews
THE FOUR STREETS
‘Vigorous... vibrant... fast-paced. An addictive novel to be devoured at one sitting.’
Sunday Express
‘Powerful... engaging... cinematic.’
Ann Treneman, The Times
‘I couldn’t put it down.’
Cristina Odone
About the Author
NADINE DORRIES grew up in a working-class family in Liverpool. She trained as a nurse, then followed with a successful career in which she established and sold her own business. She has been the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire since 2005 and has three daughters.
Connect with Nadine on Twitter, @NadineDorriesMP.
Also by this Author
The Four Streets
1950s Liverpool
In the tight-knit Irish Catholic community of the Four Streets, two girls are growing up.
One is motherless – and hated by the cold woman who is determined to take her dead mother’s place. The other is hiding a dreadful secret which she dare not let slip to anyone, lest it rips the heart out of the community.
What can the people of the Four Streets do when a betrayal at the very heart of their world comes to light?
The Four Streets is available here.
Read a free preview here.
Hide Her Name
This gripping follow on from The Four Streets finds the community alive with rumours and gossip after the murder which rocked it to the core.
No one knows – or is saying – who did it, least of all the police, but they are not giving up their search for the truth. Somewhere, in this tight-knit Irish Catholic community, someone must know something. Someone will surely talk one day.
Meanwhile, 14-year-old Kitty Doherty, pregnant with the dead man’s child, is a living danger to everyone who needs to keep the secret. Her mother, Maura and best friend Nellie’s grandmother, the redoutable Kathleen, decide the girls must be spirited away quietly to Ireland to await the birth of the baby.
But it isn’t easy to keep a secret that big.
Hide her Name is available here.
Read a free preview here.
A Letter from the Publisher
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The story starts here.
First published in the UK in 2014 by Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © Nadine Dorries, 2014
The moral right of Nadine Dorries to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (E) 9781784971106
Head of Zeus Ltd
Clerkenwell House
45-47 Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
www.headofzeus.com
Contents
Cover
Welcome Page
Christmas morning, 1964
Preview – The Four Streets
Preview – Hide Her Name
About this Book
Reviews
About the Author
Also by this Author
An Invitation from the Publisher
Copyright
Run to Him Page 12
